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Toward a Critical Race Realism TOW ARD A CRITICAL RACE REALISM* Gregory Scott Parks** Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! -Claude McKay 1 INTRODUCTION . 684 I. CRITICAL RACE REALISM: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF CONSTITUENT FEATURES ............ 686 A. INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN EARLy AMERICAN LEGAL EDUCATION . 686 B. HOLMES, BRANDEIS, CARDOZO, AND POUND . 689 C. Ivy LEAGUE lcONOCLASTS AT COLUMBIA AND YALE LAW SCHOOLS . 691 1. Legal Realism . 691 2. The Law Policy Science Movement. 696 3. Yale's Divisional Studies Program . 698 D. THE LAW "AND" MOVEMENT AND ITS PROGENY . 699 1. Law and Economics Movement . 699 2. Law and Society Movement . 700 * This Note is an expanded version of Gregory Parks, Toward a Critical Race Realism, in CRITICAL RACE REALISM: INTERSECTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY, RACE, AND LAW (Gregory Parks, Shayne Jones, and W Jonathan Cardi eds., 2008) reprinted by permission of The New Press. ** B.S., Howard University; M.S., City University of New York; Ph.D., University of Kentucky; J.D., Cornell Law School. Let me thank the following people for their helpful comments and suggestions on various drafts of this note: Valerie Hans (Cornell Law School), Sherri Lynn Johnson (Cornell Law School), Shayne Jones (University of South Florida De­ partment of Criminology), W. Jonathan Cardi (University of Kentucky College of Law), Rich­ ard Delgado (University of Pittsburgh School of Law), Analisa Jabaily (Johns Hopkins University Office of the Vice President and General Counsel), Roger Fairfax (George Wash­ ington University Law School), Brian Gran (Case Western Reserve University Law School and Department of Sociology), William Fortune (University of Kentucky College of Law), Lori Ringhand (University of Kentucky College of Law). 1 Claude McKay, If We Must Die, in AFRO-AMERICAN WRITING: AN ANTHOLOGY OF PROSE AND POETRY 344, 344 (Richard A. Long & Eugenia W. Collier eds., 2d ed. 1985). In his poem, McKay encourages doomed resistance, quite the way Critical Race Theorists contend that racism is part of the American psyche, the very fabric of America, yet encourage resis­ tance to such racism. For a critical race theorist's perspective, see Derrick Bell, Racism Is Here to Stay Now What?, in THE DERRICK BELL READER 85-90 (Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic eds., 2005). Similarly, I argue within this Note that although racism against black Americans will likely exist, in various forms, into perpetuity, our interests would be best served by mar­ shalling a systematic attack against it. This attack, from the legal standpoint, necessitates the use of (empirical) social science geared towards altering public policies affecting blacks. 683 684 CORNELL JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY [Vol. 17:683 a. Critical Legal Studies . 702 b. Critical Race Theory . 704 II. CRITICAL RACE REALISM: A DEFINITION AND DEVELOPMENT(S) . 707 A. CONTIGUOUS MODELS: EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, THE NEW LEGAL REALISM PROJECT, AND BEHAVIORAL REALISM.............................. 708 B. CRITICAL RACE REALISM: CRITICAL RACE THEORY AND CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENTS .................. 713 1. A Systematic Analysis of Race, Social Science, and Law Scholarship . 714 2. An Integrative Model . 738 3. Creating a Critical Race Realism . 743 CONCLUSION................................................ 745 INTRODUCTION A historical account of American law shows a dramatic irony; the law has served as a tool to both oppress and liberate Blacks.2 In the face of such oppression, a handful of lawyers3 and law professors4 have used the law for progressive, social change. Among the latter, Critical Race Theorists have been in the vanguard of providing "a race-based, system­ atic critique of legal reasoning and legal institutions."5 In 2002, Temple University Press published Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory. 6 The volume is comprised largely of papers and speeches 2 See generally DERRICK A. BELL, RACE, RACISM AND AMERICAN LAW (4th ed. 2000) (providing a general account of topics dealing with race and the law); JACK GREENBERG, CRU­ SADERS IN THE COURTS: How A DEDICATED BAND OF LAWYERS FOUGHT FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS REVOLUTION (1994) (providing a history of civil rights lawyering); A. LEON HIGGIN­ BOTHAM, JR., lN THE MATTER OF COLOR: RACE AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL PROCESS: THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1978) (providing a history of race and law during America's colonial pe­ riod); A. LEON HIGGINBOTHAM, JR., SHADES OF FREEDOM: RACIAL POLITICS AND PRESUMP­ TIONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGAL PROCESS (1996) (providing a general history of issues dealing with race and the law); RICHARD KLuGER, SIMPLE JUSTICE: THE HISTORY oF BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION AND BLACK AMERICA'S STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY (1977) (providing a history of Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)); MARK V. TusHNET, THE NAACP's LEGAL STRATEGY AGAINST SEGREGATED EDUCATION, 1925-1950 (1987) (providing a histori­ cal account of the NAACP's efforts to end school segregation). 3 See, e.g., GREENBERG, supra note 2; KLuGER, supra note 2; GENNA RAE McNEIL, GROUNDWORK: CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS (1983) (highlighting the efforts of Houston as a civil rights lawyer); TusHNET, supra note 2. 4 See, e.g., CRmCAL RACE THEORY: THE CUTTING EDGE (Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic eds., 2000) (synthesizing key Critical Race Theory writings); CRmcAL RACE THE­ ORY: THE KEY WRITINGS THAT FoRMED THE MOVEMENT (Kimberle Crenshaw et al. eds., 1995) (synthesizing key Critical Race Theory writings); CROSSROADS, DIRECTIONS, AND A NEw CRmCAL RACE THEORY (Francisco Valdes et al. eds., 2002) [hereinafter CROSSROADS] (providing a future vision of Critical Race Theory). 5 Delgado & Stefancic, supra note 4, at xix. 6 CROSSROADS, supra note 4. 2008] TowARD A CRITICAL RACE REALISM 685 presented in 1997 at the Critical Race Theory Conference held at Yale Law School in commemoration of Critical Race Theory's tenth anniver­ sary.7 In one of the many commentaries that followed the release of Crossroads, 8 Boalt Law Professor Rachel Moran noted that the work captures a discipline at a crossroads, struggling to define its substantive mission, methodological commitments, and connection to the world outside of academia.9 Almost ten years after the Yale conference and four years after Crossroads' publication, Critical Race Theory continues to grapple with these same issues. Thus, this Note sets forth a particular methodology called Critical Race Realism. 10 Critical Race Realism is a synthesis of Critical Race Theory, empirical social science, and public policy. 11 This methodology has both academic and applied components. Furthermore, its mission is to provide a systematic, race-based evaluation and critique of legal doc­ trine, institutions, and actors-e.g., judges, juries, etc. By employing so­ cial science, Critical Race Realism should (1) expose racism where it may be found, (2) identify racism' s effects on individuals and institu­ tions, and (3) put forth a concerted attack against racism, in part, via public policy arguments. Part I of this Note provides a backdrop to un­ derstand Critical Race Realism. It explores the histories of the various actors who, and movements that, inform our understanding of Critical 7 See id. at xi. 8 See Ian Ayres, ls Discrimination Elusive?, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2419 (2003); Devon W. Carbado & Mitu Gulati, The Law and Economics ofCritical Race Theory, 112 YALE L.J. 1757 (2003); Mary Anne Case, Developing a Taste for Not Being Discriminated Against, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2273 (2003); Jerome M Culp, Jr. et al., Subject Unrest, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2435 (2003); Richard Delgado, Crossroads and Blind Alleys: A Critical Examination of Recent Writing About Race, 82 TEx. L. REv. 121 (2003); Clark Freshman, Foreword: Revisioning the Con­ stellations of Critical Race Theory, Law and Economics, and Empirical Scholarship, 55 STAN. L. REV. 2267 (2003) [hereinafter Freshman, Foreward: Revisioning the Constellations]; Clark Freshman, Prevention Perspectives on "Different" Kinds of Discrimination: From Attacking Different "Isms" to Promoting Acceptance in Critical Race Theory, Law and Economics, and Empirical Research, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2293 (2003) [hereinafter Freshman, Prevention Per­ spectives]; Kevin Haynes, Taking Measures, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2349 (2003). 9 Rachel F. Moran, The Elusive Nature of Discrimination, 55 STAN. L. REv. 2365, 2365-67 (2003). 1O See Emily M. S. Houh, Critical Race Realism: Re-Claiming the Antidiscrimination Principle Through the Doctrine of Good Faith in Contract Law, 66 U. Prrr. L. REV. 455, 457 (2005) (arguing that "critical race realism encompasses not only the goals and methodologies of the broader critical race ... projects, but also some of the shared goals and methodologies of legal realism."); see also Derrick Bell, Racial Realism, 24 CoNN. L. REv. 363, 363-64 (1992) ("Black people need reform in our civil rights strategies as badly as those in the law needed a new way to consider American jurisprudence prior to the advent of the Legal Real­ ists.... Racial Realism ... is a legal and social mechanism on which blacks can rely to have their voice and outrage heard."). I I I do not propose that this piece is the first attempt to synthesize Critical Race Theory, empirical social science, and public policy. Recent Critical Race Theorists have put forth an effort to address issues at the intersection of Critical Race Theory and social science. See, e.g., Delgado & Stefancic, supra note 4, at 129-79. 686 CORNELL JouRNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY [Vol. 17:683 Race Realism. Part II defines Critical Race Realism by example and elaborates on those elements that comprise it. I. CRITICAL RACE REALISM: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF CONSTITUENT FEATURES This section highlights the many movements and individuals that inform us about what constitutes Critical Race Realism today and its po­ tential in the future. Subpart A explores how early American legal edu­ cation came to tolerate interdisciplinary studies. Subpart B highlights the contributions of Supreme Court Justices Holmes, Brandeis, and Cardozo and Harvard Law School Dean Roscoe Pound toward the acceptance of social science within American jurisprudence, the study of law in action, and the use of law to advance public policy.
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